Darkness is Your Cradle A OUAT Halloween Tale
by Tif S
Summary: AU:After Emma becomes the Dark One, Henry is lost. Not knowing what could have caused the change, he tries to reach out to the one person who knows what he is going through, with devastating consequences for his mother and for Storybrooke. Can the Heroes make things right, or is it too late? (canon pairings, but mostly Henry and Emma centric)
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Hello fellow Oncers, here with a new story, this time with a Halloween twist. I'm in a bit of a festive mood, and it being October, it felt right to get a little frightened. Despite the fact that this is being written in close proximity to Halloween, it will not take place on Halloween. On the contrary, this will take place during Emma's time as the Dark One, and will go a bit further than the show did.**_

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 **Chapter One**

 _It's been two years, but I still watch. We all do, but there are those that watch for the wrong reasons. In my time, I had become well acquainted with the darkness, more than any child rightfully should. I have confidence in them, but I also know what grief can do, so I still watch. I know what's coming. I can see it as well as they can see the cloud descending on their town, but I can do nothing. I see the change in my son as clearly as I had felt it in myself, and I am helpless as the cycle continues. All I can do is relate what I saw, and feel what he felt when Darkness arrived._

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Henry had seen it with his own eyes, but he couldn't believe it. What was he missing, what were they all missing? His mom stood before them, but she wasn't herself. Her expression was somehow harder and her voice lacked any warmth as they stood in Granny's. And then, she had turned Sneezy into a statue. She had come close to them, and talked of their failure, and that hurt. Seeing the pain in his grandmother's eyes, that hurt. Seeing the disbelief in everyone else's, Henry was right there with them. Emma had cast the Dark Curse. Whatever had happened had pushed her far enough from them that she had cast the _Dark Curse_. And a Mom that would do that, well it didn't sit right with him. It frightened him more than anything, because he could see the fear in the eyes of his other mother as she remembered that time. He could remember that he had run from her because of it, and that instinct was still there, but this time with Emma, and that was the worst part of all.

"Swan?" Henry watched Killian. The pain in his eyes mirrored Henry's own, and as Emma left the diner, the murmurs swelled around them.

"Now what?" Robin asked.

"Now?" Henry could see the determination in his grandfather's gaze. "We try to figure out what happened in those six weeks."

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 _ **A/N: The focus of this story is going to be more of a psychological exploration, and will incorporate some supernatural elements as well. It's going to be a tad different than some of my other stories as well as from canon, but hopefully in a fun way. I'm planning to finish it before Halloween, but who knows if that will happen. That is the tentative plan. So, let me know what you think. Any suggestions? Predictions? Questions? Do let me know.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Chapter Two is ready. I hope you enjoy. I don't own Once Upon a Time, just my plot.**_

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 **Chapter Two**

They had all gone to Gold's shop. It seemed a natural place to congregate, considering the circumstances. Now it was almost sundown, and still nothing.

Henry was trying to be helpful, looking through books on Camelot's history, but the words blurred on the page. This was normally a time when he would come up with an Operation, but he couldn't bring himself to. He couldn't stop thinking about Emma. He wanted to save her, but how?

After the fifth attempt of reading the same page, he gave up, choosing to close the book gently rather than slam it shut as Killian was doing. He didn't miss the look that his mom was giving him from over the tome, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He stood from his seat and walked to the window.

Storybrooke looked strange in the glow of the sunset. He wasn't sure if it's because he knew the threat that was out there, or because he didn't. Maybe it was the empty streets in such a normally lively town. Maybe it was the flicker of streetlamps, or yet another curse that gave the town he called home such a foreign appearance. Last time, he notes, he was unaware, because of the alternate memories. The time before that, he wasn't able to truly help. The help that first time had come from his mom, the Savior. This time felt an awful lot like that first time… except this time the roles were reversed, and at least according to his mom, there was no Savior in this town.

But there was, wasn't there? There could be. His mom was still in there. She was still his mother, and she had fought worse before. And there was someone that could help.

* * *

Killian had been looking through books for the last hour, and couldn't find anything useful, so when he heard the boy's voice over his shoulder, it was a welcome distraction. "Do you think, I mean, do you think it's like she says?"

"What?" Killian looked over to Henry.

"Mom, I mean... do you think...did we really fail?" Henry shook his head as his voice grew thick. "Do you think she's really gone?"

"No." Killian answered quickly. Not his Swan. she would never let herself be fully taken. She was too strong for that, especially when she still had Henry, when she still had _him,_ when she still had parents that believed in her fully. "Of course not."

"Then why would she do this?"

Killian looked down at the boy. "I don't know Lad."

"Can you come with me to talk to her?" Henry looked over to where his mom and grandparents were still looking through books.

"Aye."

* * *

 _I feel the shadows converge. They're waiting. If I were down there with Henry and Hook, I'd say I was suffocating. That's the feeling. But of course, I can't make a move. And the truth is, I don't want to be able to, not with the shadows on my back. I can tell he feels it as much as I do, the way his eyes move around as they approach the docks. He fears there's something that's changed, and it's true. There is._

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 ** _A/N: Alright, so Henry and Killian are going to attempt to talk to Emma. How do you think that will go? Let me know what you think. Should I continue?_**


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Chapter Three is ready, a little shorter than I wanted but it does set things up. I do have an announcement about this story at the bottom author's note.**_

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 **Chapter Three**

Emma is alone. Although, if she really thinks about it, this isn't as foreign as it should be. She's always been alone, even with family surrounding her, because that's simply how her occupation has been laid out. She knows exactly what happened in Camelot, what happened before Camelot, and what has been happening since she came to this town at the behest of the son she gave up fourteen or so years prior. She was the Savior. She prescribed to isolation the minute that she broke the curse, more recently and absolutely in the minute that she took the darkness in Regina's stead.

She knows these thoughts are dangerous, but she can't bring herself to care, because the Darkness within her is pulsing and whispering.

 _ **Take him, take him, take him. Keep him close.**_

She knew, somewhere, somehow she knew that it wouldn't be right. She had to quiet it somehow, quiet the voices. So it is why she sits with the thread and the kit in front of her: Dream catchers, apt for one who has become used to sleepless nights and restless days. The Darkness (she can't bring herself to use that other name, not when the man himself is incapacitated, so he is simply the Darkness to her) giggles.

"What now Dark One? How are you gonna get what you need?"

She knows without much thought that it won't require much effort at all. The Darkness within and the Darkness without is giddy at the prospect of the game, but Emma herself has never been much of a predator, and to do this to him… the part of her that can still hurt, that still knows the love that is not primal, the love that is pure and warm, the love that gave him his best chance, it frightens her. But the Darkness does not let fright equate to freezing, and the call does its job, and she is pulled toward them.

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 _I know what's coming and watching this moment, I can feel the mocking pleasure as the shadows swirls around in a mad dance with my terror. It's inescapable, difficult to tell if these are my fears or the shadows' cast._ _ **You are bound to me. You are all bound to me.**_

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 _ **A/N: Okay, announcement time. After much fandom theorizing in my own brain, this story is taking a little bit of a different turn than my original plan for it, and will be a set up of sorts for another story I plan to start revolving around a season six headcanon that won't leave me alone. I'm not entirely sure in my plans with this if it will end up being a standalone with this new plan I have, nonetheless, I hope you will stick around. Let me know what you think.**_


End file.
